Former Daytona 500 Champion Starting NASCAR Xfinity Series Team

What’s Happening?

A former Daytona 500 champion is returning to racing in a new role in 2025. Derrike Cope and his family will own and operate their own Xfinity Series team, Cope Family Racing; here’s what you need to know.

• The team will field two drivers in the No. 70 Chevrolet this season. However, according to Bob Pockrass, the race and driver schedule for the team is unknown. However, it appears that Leland Honeyman Jr. will drive the car at the season opener at Daytona.
• The two drivers are Xfinity Series sophomore Honeyman Jr. and 19-year-old Thomas Annunziata. Honeyman entered all 33 races in 2024, with Young’s Motorsports scoring one top five and two top tens. Annunziata made his ARCA Menards and Xfinity Series debut in 2024. He posted three top tens in ARCA and a best finish of 28th at Pocno with JD Motorsports.
• The team will have a close relationship with Richard Childress Racing. They will acquire their cars from RCR and their engines from ECR Engines. ECR currently fields engines for Big Machine Racing, Kaulig Racing, Jordan Anderson Racing, Our Motorsports, and RCR.

Derrike Cope won the 1990 Daytona 500 as part of two career NASCAR Cup Series wins in his 428 Cup Series races from 1982 to 2021. Cope has historically entered races in the No. 70 in the Xfinity series, lending a bit of history to the car’s number.

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